Thirty-Three
Later took a while. It was also confusing. Melissa found Bettina and Zelda in Rachel’s office, meeting Batchette. Batchette was a cat, given a batty name for she had flown into Rachel’s life as an adolescent the exact moment Terry Pratchett died. And because she stood on anything she could climb up to and jumped on heads and shoulders, or reached out with a paw and gave a gentle swipe.
There was barely time for polite surprises at Melissa’s end. The best she could do was keep the conversation straight. This time there was food and Melissa took her tablets quietly with her tea once she’d had an elegant cucumber sandwich from an even more elegant tray. Her painkillers and cortisone were obviously going to be more powerful when drunk from a cup with golden flowers around the ed
